Ultra-fast pulse radiolysis system combined with a laser photocathode RF gun and a femtosecond laser

Abstract

In order to study the early events in radiation physics and chemistry, two kinds of new pulse radiolysis systems with higher time resolution based on pump-and-probe method have been developed at the Nuclear Engineering Research Laboratory, the University of Tokyo. The first one, a few picosecond (2 ps at FWHM) electron beam (pump) from an 18 MeV S-band Linac using a laser photocathode RF gun (BNL/KEK/SHI type: GUN IV) was operated with a femtosecond laser pulse (100 fs at FWHM), which also acted as the analyzing light (probe). The synchronization precision between the pump and the probe was 1.7 ps (rms). In a 1.0 cm sample cell, a time resolution of 12 ps was achieved. The second one, a picosecond (4 ps at FWHM) electron pulse from a 35 MeV S-band Linac employing a conventional thermionic gun with a sub-harmonic buncher, was synchronized with the femtosecond laser pulse, with a synchronization jitter of 2.8 ps (rms). A time resolution of 22 ps was obtained with 2 cm cell. This makes it possible to do the pulse radiolysis experiments in the time range from picosecond to sub-microsecond.